Elephone P9000 Review - Top China Smartphone

First impression of Elephone P9000

 Update: The test report has been adapted again to the current OTA update P9000_20170112. 

What's in the box

The Elephone P9000 was delivered in a modern plastic box. In addition to the smartphone, it also contained a USB Type-C charging or data cable, a SIM pin to open the SIM slot, a multilingual operating manual, also in German, a silicone back to protect the smartphone, and an advertising card that could be attached to the Fast-charge possibility of the smartphone indicates. If you are now wondering whether the charger was forgotten in the list, I will have to disappoint you. The Elephone P9000 does not come with a charger. The advertising card indicates a Quick Charge charger, which can be purchased for around € 13.

Design and workmanship

The smartphone itself was able to convince in the first hands-on. At around 145g, the P9000 is extremely light. The housing frame is a beautiful anthracite-colored aluminum frame. The arrangement of the function keys is interesting. These are almost in the middle, which means that the buttons can be reached more quickly and the 5.5 inch device can be operated more easily. In addition to the usual power button and the volume rocker, the Elephone P9000 has an additional button, the so-called “smart key”, which can be used as a quick start button for an app specified by the user. All physical control buttons are adapted to the design, are also made of aluminum and sit without much play in the housing frame.

The P9000 has a 3.5mm jack audio output on the upper edge of the housing. At the bottom of the frame are the USB Type-C socket, the microphone and the loudspeaker. The SIM tray is inserted on the left side. It should be noted that the SIM slot is a so-called "hybrid slot". Either the dual SIM function (2x Micro SIM) can be used here, but if you want to use the memory expansion option, you have to "sacrifice" one of the slots (1x Micro SIM, 1x Micro SD).

The front of the chinaphone looks comparatively simple. There are no physical buttons and the capacitive buttons are only the main button below the display. However, several functions were assigned to this. Above the display is the auricle, to the right of it the 8 megapixel front camera, to the left of the auricle is the proximity sensor.

The non-removable back of the Elephone P9000 is made of plastic and has a structure that resembles sandpaper. The fingerprint scanner is located below the 13 megapixel main camera. In addition to the main camera, a dual LED flash and laser focus have been integrated.

Display

As soon as the P9000 is switched on, the display frame (bezel), which is very small at 1.6mm, is noticeable. The display has a diagonal of 5.5 inches and has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (full HD). The LTPS panel comes from LG. 

The colors shown are very strong and the black value is good. Individual pixels are no longer recognizable due to the high resolution. The maximum brightness of the display could be a little better. Especially in strong sunlight, the display can not read so well.

In my test device, the so-called "clouding" was also noticeable at the bottom of the display. Here, different levels of brightness usually run along the edges of the display. I cannot judge to what extent other devices in the series are affected, but the effect is within the bounds of the P9000 I tested and is only understandable in situations that are atypical for everyday use.

The display settings have been expanded to include "MiraVision", which means that the display can be individually adapted. In addition to two predefined profiles, all settings within MiraVision can also be freely selected by the user.

All entries made in the course of the test were precisely recognized by the touchscreen. Multi-touch is supported with up to 5 fingers.

Performance

The Elephone P9000 uses a MediaTek Helio P10 SoC (MT6755), a 64-bit octa-core processor that clocks at 2GHz. The SoC's GPU is a Mali-T860. The RAM is 4GB, the internal memory is 32GB.

In everyday life, the smartphone can be operated very smoothly. Multitasking is not a problem and even more computationally intensive games like Asphalt 8 could be played smoothly in the test. Even after prolonged use and numerous open apps, the memory usage was limited and a smooth operation was maintained.

User interface and functions

With Android 6, the Elephone P9000 is one of the first chinaphones with Android Marshmallow. The user interface hardly differs optically from Stock Android, but anyone who switches to the settings will be surprised by a multitude of additional setting options and features. Here is an overview of the most important functions:

First of all, the additional extensions were not translated by the manufacturer!

 Harlequin LED Notification: Control of the notification LED, which is located below the display. Here you can set that the LED pulsates when a notification is received, and you can also set the times of day and night at which the LED should be active. Unfortunately, no color settings can be made.

 Finger scanner: The fingerprint scanner can be configured here. A total of 5 finger profiles can be created. The scanner proved to be reliable in the review. There were very few false positives. The detection time was also very short, which meant that the device could be unlocked promptly.

 Prevent Pocket Dial: This option prevents the smartphone from unlocking itself in your pocket, for example.

 Security: Functions have also been added in the security settings. You can determine which apps are to be started when the smartphone is started, the app authorizations can be individually regulated, individual files can be encrypted and an anti-theft function that locks or deletes the smartphone remotely has been specially integrated.

 Smart Assistant: There is a separate category in the settings called “Smart Assistant”. There are setting options for gesture control and a "Smart Wake" function, already known from other manufacturers, by means of which a predefined app can be started by drawing a letter on the standby display. In addition, the quick start button on the side can be configured, there is a "Volume up key wake up" function, the laser focus on the rear can be adjusted, an additional navigation bar can be activated and it can be set which apps should be closed at what time, for example to empty the memory.

Another difference to Stock Android 6.0 is the app drawer. With Stock Android you can scroll through the app overview, with the Elephone P9000 you can flip through the pages. Due to the lack of capacitive buttons, the user interface is controlled via the touchscreen on the one hand, and the capacitive button below the display is multifunctional on the other. The smartphone receives updates from OTA (Over The Air).

Updates to the operating system

 (Update November 2016): The Elephone P9000 is one of the most widespread China smartphones, which is why the developer community is constantly growing. On XDA-Developers There are now numerous custom ROMs, tweaks and other useful tips for the P9000. One of the best-known ROMs is the "Eragon" ROM, which was and still is extremely successful on the P8000. If you prefer to equip your device with CyanogenMod, there is a fully functional CyanogenMod 13.0 build. A first beta of the Android 7.0 Nougat update for the Elephone P9000 was released in mid-November. However, it is advisable to wait for the official release, as the current beta version still has some errors.

 (Update January 2017): With the release of the update P9000_20160810, the recovery function was damaged on many devices, which makes an OTA update to P9000_20170112 impossible. This can be remedied by flashing the recovery images again using the SP flash tool. The data is retained and an OTA update to the latest firmware is then possible! Detailed instructions can be found in the official Elephone forum.

Camera

The main camera of the Elephone P9000 shoots recordings with up to 13 megapixels. According to the manufacturer, a Sony image sensor with the designation IMX258 was used. The f-number is f / 2.0. Next to the main camera is a dual LED flash that triggers at different color temperatures in order to take even more beautiful pictures at night. There is also a laser auto focus next to the main camera. In contrast to conventional smartphones that focus using the contrast range, the Elephone P9000 focuses using the infrared laser. This makes it possible to focus even faster, especially in poor lighting conditions.

Since I knew that previous firmware for the P9000 caused all sorts of problems with the camera, I flashed the latest ROM, which, according to the manufacturer, fixed these problems. The Elephone P9000 takes good pictures in practice. The colors look crisp and natural. The sharpness is given in good lighting conditions and the image noise is also limited. Still, the image quality, the camera app and the shutter release time could be improved. In poor lighting conditions, the images become increasingly blurry. Even in good lighting conditions, the autofocus may not focus accurately and the pictures may appear blurry. The camera app already has all the basic functions, but could be expanded to include additional recording modes. The shutter release time is comparatively long and the auto focus is still a bit sluggish.

The 8 megapixel front camera is convincing. An OmniVision OV8858 was used as the image sensor. Even in poor lighting conditions, this camera is suitable for usable selfies.

 Update: The camera has also improved since the numerous OTA updates. However, the potential has not yet been exhausted! The laser autofocus now works a little more precisely.

Shooting Elephone P9000 main camera

Klang

The sound from the external speaker is good at low volume. However, once you set the maximum volume, the sound is very tinny and can also partial scratching is not uncommon.

The sound over the 3.5mm audio output is good. A disturbing background noise has not made itself felt. Noteworthy is the maximum volume.

Telephony, Bluetooth, WiFi and NFC

All frequencies common in Germany are supported (including 800MHz / LTE band 20), 2G via 3G to 4G is possible. The Elephone P9000 was able to convince in the interview test. My conversation partner could understand me clearly and distinctly, and I could understand him well.

Active Bluetooth connections were stable and the range was average. The WiFi has an excellent range and is very sensitive. Even networks that are far away were shown in the WiFi overview. The dual band suitability is also a big plus point of the P9000.

 NFC (Near Field Communication) also works very well with the Elephone P9000. I was able to write and read “tags” without any problems. Card emulation is possible. The device can also be used for mobile payments.

Another very interesting function is the MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) interface. This is an alternative to HDMI, whereby the smartphone transmits audio and video data to a screen and is charged via the cable at the same time. Unfortunately I could not test this function because of the missing cable.

GPS and other sensors

The GPS fix was found with the Elephone P9000 in no time. In the open, the GPS was consistently accurate to within 2 meters. The smartphone also has an e-compass for improved navigation. Further sensors are a gyroscope, an acceleration sensor, a brightness sensor, a proximity sensor and a Hall sensor.

 Update: With the update, both the GPS and the gyroscope have been improved. The GPS now finds the “GPS fix” even faster and the gyroscope also works precisely.

Battery

According to the manufacturer, the capacity of the battery is 3.000mAh. I was able to understand this value with a USB multimeter. Since no charger was included in the delivery, I used an alternative quick charger, with which the Elephone P9000 was fully charged within 1 ½ hours. By the way, the smartphone can also be charged wirelessly with a Qi charger. The battery was convincing in everyday use. After a day of normal use, I still had 40% of the battery available in the evening. With moderate use, you can get by with the Elephone P9000 for a good two days. With the latest ROM, the battery life has improved again, which also fixed the WiFi bug.

 Update: With the current ROM from June 2016, the Quick Charge function no longer works as it should. If you could charge the smartphone with the appropriate charger in a very short time, it now takes significantly longer.